Thursday, September 30, 2010

We're Surrounded!

Living in the natural world, we sometimes lose sight of the supernatural. We are so often ridiculed when we speak of the supernatural, that we relegate it to the far corner of our mind, where it tends to grow dim. We start to believe that faith is simply 'mind over matter.'  The Kingdom of God seems like a place light years away, a time far from now. But it's not.

Colossians 1:13-14: 'For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.'

As those whose trust is in Christ Jesus, we are living in the Kingdom. We may not see the 'heavenlies,' but they are there.

Remember Elisha in II Kings 6:16-17? Elisha and the young man with him were surrounded by an enemy, a situation that would bring terror to most of us!  'And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw; and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.'

As Francis Schaeffer writes in his book, True Spirituality, '...the significant thing was not that something would come. It was already there. The only difference was that the young man's eyes had to be opened to see what Elisha already saw. The supernatural was not something far-off; it was there. All the young man needed was to have his eyes opened to it.'

Hebrews 12:1 says, 'Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, (referring to those saints, mentioned in Chapter 11 of Hebrews, who have gone before) let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.'

What a great comfort to the believer to know that the reality of God is here and now, with us, not in some distant future. We are surrounded by the supernatural as we go about the business of living life before and for our Lord Jesus Christ.

P.S.  Feeling down today? Read Chapters 11 and 12 of Hebrews. I always feel so encouraged by reading about the saints of old, knowing that we, along with them, are part of the same Body of Christ - by grace through faith! What an amazing thing!!

8 comments:

SomeGirl said...

Great quote by Francis Schaeffer... it was already there. It's weird and amazing to think of what's going on around us that we just don't see. Thanks for the reminder! (Great rainbow pic, btw)

Michelle said...

Insightful post, very well written. Thanks for the encouragement and reminder today.

Unknown said...

beautiful pictures and even more beautiful words! Thanks for the lift up today!

Unknown said...

Powerful quotes...very lovely!

Yenta Mary said...

Oh, there is such tremendous beauty and wisdom to be found, if only we can get past the piddly nonsense of daily life and pay attention to those gifts ....

Denise said...

Beautiful post, bless you.

Jean at The Delightful Repast said...

Yes, those chapters are very encouraging! And the photos you chose to accompany this post were perfect for it.

Sherry @ Lamp Unto My Feet said...

Praise God! Such a comfort!

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